The French archaeological mission to the UAE and the museum of the Umm Al Quwain Emirate have recently discovered the oldest sanctuary in Arabia, as well as the oldest known ceremonial site dedicated to a very particular marine mammal, the dugong. These results have just been published in the international review Antiquity.
The Arabian Peninsula has provided very little data on the beliefs and ancient ritual practices. On the Oman Peninsula, there is no known sanctuary from the Bronze Age and it is not until the Iron Age that religious practices begin to appear. Located near the Strait of Hormuz, the Akab sanctuary today provides us with the first evidence of the rituals practised by the prehistoric coastal societies of the Gulf.
Akab, a fishermen's village between 4700 and 4100 BC. The island of Akab is located 50km north of Dubai in the large lagoon of Umm Al Quwain.
During the fifth millennium, more than 6500 years ago, Akab was a fishermen's camp with circular habitations. Fishing was practised with nets and lines using hooks made from the shell of the pearl oyster.
Although all the resources of the lagoon and the neighbouring mangrove appear to have been exploited, the fishermen of Akab also fished tuna, which necessitated expeditions in boats in the open sea.
A dugong bone mound
The dugong, a Sirenia (marine mammal) that lives along the coast of the Indian Ocean and in the western Pacific Ocean, is well attested today in the Arabian Gulf. In adulthood, it measures up to four metres in length and can weigh as much as 400kg. Now protected by the UAE, its flesh, oil and hide were ( long exploited.
Test excavations were made in "dugong mound" of Akab in the 1990's and it was interpreted as a sea cow butchering site. The excavation was resumed between 2006 and 2009 by a new team of prehistorians and faunal experts of the French mission. This work has shown that this is not an unorganised accumulation of bones, but an intentionally structured one whose construction was accomplished in stages.
A carbon dating realised directly on a dugong bone attributes it to the second half of the fourth millennium (3500-3200 BC). This complex construction consists of an ovoid platform extending to nearly 10 square metres. It contains the remains of at least 40 dugongs.
Juveniles are well represented in the mound. We also observe that no animal was deposited whole in the structure, or even a large part of an animal.
Moreover, certain anatomical parts, such as the ribs, vertebrae or limbs, are under-represented, which is evidence of intentional selection.
The deposition of portions of freshly killed animals is verified by the presence of limbs in anatomical connexion. Today, the bones present the stigmata of a long exposition to sun and wind.
Archaeological remains
The quantity of archaeological remains within the ritual structure is exceptionally high, with 1,862 objects found within 10 square metres.
As most of them are ornamental elements, they have no relation with the dismemberment or butchering of the dugong. Though beads made from shell are present, the most frequent are the tubular beads with an angled distal double perforation, of a type very rare in the Gulf. These ornamental elements were found in association with tools (oyster shell fishhooks, bone awls, shell knives, flint flakes) and pebbles.
Finally, the remains of gazelle, sheep and goat, sometimes partly articulated, were incorporated in the structure.
Akab, a marine sanctuary
The ensemble contributes to the spectacular and ritualised display of a large marine mammal, and we can only be astonished by the fact that at Akab the dugong skulls are directed fully eastward, as are the deceased in certain Neolithic necropolises, such as Jebel al-Buhais 18 (Sharjah Emirate, UAE).
This display is also reminiscent of that of the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) in the necropolis of Ra's al-Hamra 5 (Sultanate of Oman), which is contemporary with the Akab monument.
The Akab monument is unique in the Middle-East has no parallel in the Neolithic in other parts of the world. The only comparable constructions are those on the Australian coasts of the Torres Strait in the ceremonial sites known as kod sites, but the dates of these sites are much more recent (fourteenth-twentieth century AD). The analogy is so strong between the Akab monument and the Australian dugong constructions that we believe the link with fishing rites is highly probable.
Source: Khaleej Times